Pieces of red construction paper shaped like bricks stand out in contrast to a black background, attracting the attention of passers-by. But the messages written on the paper are the items that really make an impact.

At Lentz Hall, residents have been attaching their stories to a wall as a contribution to Alcohol Awareness Week. The stories share the common bond of alcohol and how it has affected their lives.

As early as eighth grade, a student recalled three high school students who were killed by a drunk driver. But the man accused of the crime will soon be out of jail, reads a piece of paper stapled to the wall.

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Another scrap of paper tells that the writer’s dad was an alcoholic who died from the disease, and a brother of the writer died in a car accident involving alcohol.

One student shares that a best friend is an alcoholic who because of alcohol, frequently contemplates suicide. Another student writes that she went to a party with a guy she liked, got drunk, had sex and became pregnant.

Shannon Cyborski, a senior in advertising from Joliet, said she put two bricks up on the wall, one to state her reasons for not drinking and the other to share a personal experience with alcohol.

My friend’s brother was a pedestrian killed by a hit-and-run drunk driver, Cyborski’s brick states. He was 21 years old, and it has torn my friend apart.

Cyborski said her grandfather was a weekend alcoholic and feels that she is at high risk to become an alcoholic, so she chooses not to drink.

I’ve been told to be cut off by bartenders when I hadn’t had a drink at all, she said. I don’t need alcohol to loosen up.

People cope with stress in different ways, but getting drunk on purpose is an inferior and weak way to do it, Cyborski said.

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I saw a friend get upset and start chugging beers, she said. That just gets me upset.

Virginia Innecken, head resident at Bowyer Hall, said she was on the committee that decided to bring back the story wall idea after looking through previous notes on Alcohol Awareness Week.

Although Alcohol Awareness Week has been an annual event for three years, the wall was first started two years ago, then dropped the next year, and began again this year, she said.

Innecken said she and others stood outside the cafeteria asking students to put up their stories, and the responses have been good.

The theme for the week is alcohol doesn’t discriminate’, she said. When we asked students to put stories on the wall, the students would say, we don’t drink’, but alcohol could affect members of the family, friends, and so on.

We could give them brochures and stuff, but nothing affects a student like personal experiences.

Ray Owczarzak, a junior in zoology from Dolton said he would be upset if he was one of the people that shared a serious story on the wall, because he read some of the stories that were put up as jokes.

I don’t drink because my grandfather and uncle were alcoholics, Owczarzak said. After seeing what other people wrote, I would have wanted to put my story up there, also.